


Starting Days

by OneShotWonder



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Hurt Dean Winchester, School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-12 23:50:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7953892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneShotWonder/pseuds/OneShotWonder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean slid out of the Impala and shoved the door shut with his elbow, wincing at the pain shooting up and down his arms. He heard the muffled rock music fade out as the engine rumbled and his Dad pulled out of the parking lot behind him. He slung his backpack over his shoulder with a whimper and tried to get control of his limbs.</p><p>He tried hard to cover it, but he was clearly limping as he stalked through the open doors, right as the first bell rang.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starting Days

Dean slid out of the Impala and shoved the door shut with his elbow, wincing at the pain shooting up and down his arms. He heard the muffled rock music fade out as the engine rumbled and his Dad pulled out of the parking lot behind him. He slung his backpack over his shoulder with a whimper and tried to get control of his limbs.

He tried hard to cover it, but he was clearly limping as he stalked through the open doors, right as the first bell rang.

He hated school; they were all the same, with dull paint and broken lockers, halls gelded with trophy cases and signs for student president, posters about prom, or club activities. It all seemed so juvenile to him, and he felt it was a huge waste of time when he could be helping his Dad with lore, practicing shooting, or the hundred other things that he needed to do in order to become a good hunter, a good asset to the family team.

Sammy raced into his classroom, just as the bell rang, huffing and swearing that he was late and Dean smiled. He loved that fact that Sam was still a kid, even though it wasn’t too long ago that he had learned the dark family secret, he was able to separate it when he came to school in a way that made Dean almost jealous. The mission didn’t hang over him like a dark cloud, not the way it did for the older Winchesters.

Dean let out a huge sigh and slid a smile onto his face as he opened to the door to his science classroom, slinking into his seat in the back while the teacher handed out quizzes. The students groaned simultaneously as they passed the blank papers back and Dean couldn’t help but laugh at how seriously they all took this.

He knew he couldn’t understand, if he didn’t have anything outside of school to occupy his mind, he might have taken it seriously too. He might have wanted to date the prettiest girls, join a sports team, or get high scores on tests. But it all just seemed so pointless now. He knew his job and his place in the world, and learning about cells and DNA wouldn’t do him much good when facing down an angry ghost. Just opening his backpack and fishing out his pencil was painful for his overexerted arms.

He spent the night digging up the grave of an old lady that decided to come back and start shoving people out of the lighthouse in the last few weeks. Between the two hour drive to get to the graveyard, the hours digging up and refilling the grave, and short scuffle he had with the ghost; he had been bone tired and numb by the time they returned to the motel at 3am, and only had a few fitful hours of sleep before Sam’s alarm rang to get them both up for school.

Muscles hurt that he didn’t even know he had, moving his arms or even adjusting in the seat sent shooting pain down his back and stomach. Who knew that digging up a grave would be so hard on the body? When he was in the thick of it, knowing his father was facing off with the ghost, his body hadn’t mattered to him much, he used every bit of fifteen year old strength he had to shovel the dirt out and find the bones of the ghost that threatened his family. And he was feeling all that enthusiasm now.

The teacher told the class to begin on the test and started to close the curtains, while Dean wondered how long it takes a pulled muscle to heal. He felt he was one giant pulled muscle at this point. He stared at the test, desperate to run out of the room and go back to the motel to get a couple more hours of shut eye.

One more year and he could drop out of this charade; Dad told him he was allowed to as long as he got his GED within the year. He filled in a few names for different parts of the cell on the first page of the diagram that he remembered, but the dim room got to him quicker than he thought and he found himself nodding off. Fuck it, he thought and wrapped his sore arm around his head as he gingerly let his forehead fall to the cool desk surface. He adjusted until it wasn’t too painful and breathed in the scent of cleaner and erasers and pencil shavings while he drifted into a light sleep.


End file.
